Slow Fade
by The Cannibal Sammich
Summary: LYNX, David Kirkland, seeks to survive in this fast paced, dangerous world of NEXTs. Aided by his close friend and operator, Elizabeth Williams, David must make a living for the both of them. But can he do this and maintain his ideals? How far exactly can one's morals be stretched before they are no longer human? Enjoy.
1. Chapter One: Hit the Ground Running

"Ten kilometers out, preparing to engage facility."

The pilot let out a slow, smooth breath following the report, fingers drumming against the controls, carefully fingering the safeties to the off position. There was a click, a short buzz of static, and then a light female voice whispered through the speakers. "Roger that, David. Be careful and remember: your job isn't to tear the place down, all you have to do is take out the solar instillations. The rest will fall into place after that."

The man nodded to himself, though Lisa could see it through her camera feed, long, crimson locks falling in his face. _Inhale. Relax._ He followed his pre-engagement ritual, his chest slowly filling with air, eyes closed, grip on the controls relaxing to barely hold onto them. After a long moment, the pilot slowly blew the breath from his lungs and his eyes shifted open.

"David Kirkland, engaging target facility."

His long fingers wrapped tightly around the controls, his feet rocking the pedals beneath them as the massive mech suit shifted forward and leapt from the cliff face it was standing before. It fell spread eagle for a few long seconds while the boosters hummed their warm up song. When the charge finished building there was a soft squeal and then the entire mech shot forward, propelled by the powerful, overed boost.

Even as the suit screamed forward, it continued to fall - until David began to once again depress the pedals, pushing harder this time to pull the plummeting suit out of its fall and settle it into the desired cruising altitude. Watching as the distance fell rapidly between him and the waypoint that marked the facility, an excitement began to build.

Finally, overhead of the target, alarms began to sound as a red light flashed somewhere to his right. They were trying to raise him to warn him he was in a secured facility; he knew that. He fingered one of the controls on his left and the boosters on his back bled off, allowing him to glide down smoothly into the facility.

The massive suit slammed down, feet digging in hard as it slid to a short stop, legs braced from the landing. Slowly, the suit shifted to a standing position. David glanced at his surroundings. There was a gathering of tanks and MT units, all with their cannons trained on the intruder. He paused, lifting his hand to flip a switch to his right, letting the voice rain down into the small control center.

"- immediately! Eject from the NEXT and surrender!"

A small, modest smile graced David's lips as he stared down at the feeble tools of war. They were the tools, but he was the god. He depressed the communication key and spoke softly and calmly. "I'm afraid I can't do that, but you're welcome to surrender if you'd like. It would make this so much easier…"

There was nothing but a curse in response before a flash ignited the air in front of the mech, one of the tanks rocking back from the recoil of its main cannon as the shell impacted it straight in the stomach. David winced, rocking with the blow even as they were followed by a rain of similar shots. The suit fell back, arching its back before its thrusters ignited and sent it into a large, controlled backflip. As it landed back to terrafirma its right arm swept, unleashing a hail of gunfire from the small but powerful machinegun.

The massive rounds tore through the tanks and shredded the legs of the MTs, dropping them to the ground. The mech's right arm brandished Hell a few moments longer as it finished its sweep before it fell silent, the tanks and MTs demolished, sparking and, in a few cases, in flames.

He stared at the destruction for a long moment, appreciating the beauty of the torn metal and wisping flares before finally turning towards his true target, the solar instillations. The suit took a single step forward before a massive explosion sent it sprawling from behind, damage indicators on its back reading red.

David pushed off hard, thrusters flaring as the suit rolled forward and flipped gracefully onto its feet, right arm raised to fend off its foe. It was then that he realized just what his foe was.

The enemy NEXT stood firm, both bazookas spewing smoke as they remained trained on him. A voice breached through his thoughts, a deep, masculine tone. "I guess you're not gonna make this easy for me, are you?"

Despite his brain telling him to respond, David could not; he was too shocked. There wasn't supposed to be anything here larger than a goddamn Ostrich! And now he was staring at a fucking NEXT. Finally, his finger found its way to the communications key and he flipped it, allowing transmissions. "I'd be out a job if I did that, I'm afraid."

There was a long pause while neither mech moved, both pilots staring at each other. Lisa's voice chirped for a moment before the static faded and he could hear her more clearly. "David, that appears to be Rick Tanner. He's a little-known LYNX, but his mission record is nearly flawless. I've pulled up Arena reports on him; please be careful."

David's heart was hammering in his chest, a bit of sweat beading at his brow. "Lisa, please read me my mission record," he requested with a bit of a grin. He could almost hear feel the girl roll her eyes.

"This isn't a game David."

"The record, Lisa."

There was a short pause, then a sigh. "Six missions successfully completed, zero failures. Success rate, one hundred percent." David's grin grew broader as he clutched the controls. That was all he needed to hear.

With a jerk, his mech shifted, boosters flaring while it dove, pushing it hard and fast out of the flight path of the two rounds as they tore through the air at him, exploding somewhere in the background. He rolled to his feet, dashing hard to his right while his machinegun spat out rounds at the NEXT. They tore into the torso of the charging beast but did nothing to slow it down.

He dug in, ducking another pair of rounds before he flared his thrusters, shoulder raised as he slammed into the charging mech. The collision sent him over the NEXT's head and dropped it onto its back. He fought to control his landing and managed to hit on one knee, then roll to a standing position, whipping around to face the other man.

His heavy NEXT was still crawling to its feet and that was all the opportunity he needed. David fluttered his boosters just enough to send him up into the air, twisting as he plummeted at his target. Just as it was turning to face him, the NEXT's left arm lashed out, a beam of solid energy extending from it as he slammed it home through the mech's throat. His blade faded from existence as they fell, his fist carrying the other mech to its back while he fell to his knees.

David paused for a short moment before coming to his feet and watching as the head of the other NEXT rolled away, wobbling with its domed shape. His attention turned to the grounded mech as it shot sparks from the port where its head had been. He knew the pilot inside was desperately fighting the controls, willing it to move; he also knew that it would not. The man surely was trying to save his life, afraid of what was to come.

But David was not that kind of LYNX.

Depressing the foot pedals lightly, Asylum lifted into the air, twisting to face the solar instillations. While he steadied himself in the air, a long barrel unfolded from his right shoulder. A massive bolt of plasma screamed from the barrel before slamming into one of the massive panels. The base melted in whisper of a second and it fell, slamming into several more. He lifted higher into the air and took aim again, raining down bolts of white hot punishment into the instillation before the cannon finally folded back to its stored position.

The instillation was destroyed; the mission was complete.

David pressed harder on the foot pedals, guiding the NEXT up and towards the waiting airship where Lisa was waiting for him.

"Seven," he muttered softly.


	2. Chapter Two: R&R

**A/N: So, this is my Armored Core For Answer fan fiction. As you can see from the previous chapter, I wanted to experiment and show what the suits should really be capable of, the amount of flexibility that just can't be allowed by a video game. As always, I'm dealing mostly with original characters.**

**I ask that if you enjoyed the last chapter, and after this one, if you enjoyed it as well, please leave me a review so that I can /know/ that you liked it. I'm always open to ideas, suggestions, questions, whatever; I may not answer them if they reveal too much about the story, or if I just don't… know yet. I am not a largely planning man; I do a lot of "when the idea strikes me" writing, and all of my stories tend to kind of just… go with the flow as I develop them while I write them.**

**Oh, and I don't own the Armored Core franchise, it's ideas or characters, and I probably never will, sadly.**

**I think that's about it. Enjoy?**

* * *

The large transport plain come in low and slow for its landing, trundling down the short runway, disappearing deep within the mountain. As the metal beast rolled to a stop, massive lights flared above it, casting illumination into the hanger that occupied the hollowed out mountain. There was a light hum as the engines powered down completely, colossal turbines gliding to a stop.

Lisa turned and hopped out of the pilot seat, taking a moment to steady herself; she'd been flying for hours, she'd lost her land legs. With a long stretch the work the kinks out of her back and shoulders, the girl let out a bit of a squeak. She walked slowly through the interior of the massive plane, boots striking the metal floor and causing a resounding echo.

Gripping the wheel, the girl twisted it hard, wrenching open the door. With a push, she passed inside and looked around the residential cabin. She knew he was in here somewhere… Ah! There he was. Lisa walked over to the sleeping boy and reached down to ruffle his hair gently, rousing him gently from his sleep. "David, we're home."

The maroon haired boy groaned as he rolled onto his back, slowly blinking his eyes open, thankful for the dim interior lights. He pushed up to a half-sitting position and stretched, yawning softly. "Already?" The girl rolled her eyes and pointed out that they'd been flying for about six hours; he'd just been asleep through its entirety.

The LYNX resigned to his fate of consciousness with a sigh and waved his friend off so that he could push off the foldout couch and onto his feet. Another massive yawn made its way from his throat; he stretched and rolled his shoulders, twisting to usher a series of sharp cracks from his back, then his neck, and finally his knuckles.

The girl could only laugh at her friend's morning ritual. The poor lad only slept while she flew, going for days at a time without while at base or on a mission. She supposed it was sort of like making a block in the minivan to put your toddler to sleep; it was probably the same science.

David shook his head rapidly and looked around, his eyes still glazed over with sleep. Finally his vision came to rest on the girl and he shrugged slowly. "I guess we get to take it easy for a few days now, right?" he asked hopefully. The smirk he got in return told him differently.

"I'm gonna go get set up; you bring Asylum to the repair bay. That hole in his back isn't just going to patch itself, and you're sure as hell not going to do it." The girl winked, her amber locks of hair falling down her face and neck as she turned and pushed open the exterior door, resulting in a hiss as the hydraulics folded the door down, providing a stairway for her to descend down.

With his friend out of sight, David let out a long sigh and plopped back on the couch, staring up for just a moment. Scenes from the fight flashed through his head. That unexpected little hiccup had almost served to ruin his mission, but he wouldn't bend that easily. No, David was a LYNX, a soldier of fortune, and he didn't bow to anyone.

With a new resolution, the boy hopped up to his feet and made his way to the back of the transport plane, climbing up the latter to the catwalks. With a grunt, he hopped into the cockpit of the NEXT. He stretched himself a bit, flipping a series of switches and watching as life was breathed into the mech around him, lights flickering, systems booting up. There was a light mechanical whine as the suit recalibrated itself. Te boy let out a soft sigh at the familiar surroundings.

Reaching over to the small keyboard, David used his right hand to key in the command for the exit ramp of the plane to descend, getting the groan of metal on metal in response as the tail of the plane fell slowly, forming a slope. After keying in the restrictive commands for use around base that made piloting the thing carefully much easier.

With a push, the suit began to descend the exit ramp, leaving the plane behind for the larger underground hanger that surrounded it. The LYNX made his way slowly to the repair station that his friend was waiting at. Arriving, he flipped the switch for the external speakers, then asked which way he should face. The girl responded with a point. After twisting Asylum to face the correct direction, David powered him down, sliding out of the now open cockpit hatch.

David paused to glance around before hopping out onto the cat walk. He made his way to the back of the suit where Lisa was strapping into her harness. "How bad is it," he asked, leaning back against the metal railing of the cat walk.

His friend shrugged, slipping on a welding helmet before hopping over the edge where she swung from her harness until her feet landed firmly on the NEXT's back. "Asylum wasn't made to take hits, and those were some big-ass hits. It's gonna take a while; you might as well find something to do."

The pilot arched his brow, pushing off of his seat on the railing. "You don't want any help?"

The girl paused, then shot him an incredulous look from beneath her helmet before flipping it down and reaching for the equipment suspended next to her. "Like I said, go find something to do." David just shrugged and turned, grabbing onto the railing before hopping over it and sliding down the ladder to the concrete floor below.

_What to do, what to do…_

**A/N: If you enjoyed it, please review! I know it was short and not that exciting, but the next chapter should make up for that. Oh, and if you like Zoids/robotic animal-mech combat, then you should check out my other story, Twisted Sunshine. If I get a bit of interest in it, I'll try to make it more active as well. 'Til next time.**


End file.
